The Black Thunderbolt
by TimeLadySpitfire
Summary: As Emerald stood up, a mortar hit the top of Autobot Base, knocking everybody down. And a shard of stone came loose, falling from the ceiling, heading straight for Optimus Prime. As the stone came closer and closer, Optimus' optics widened in fear. "NO!" screamed Arcee, the fear for her love clearly shown on her face.


**Chapter 1**

A deep voice rang through her hunting dreams.

"You have done well Bumblebee."

Jerking awake to find that voice was not part of her dream, she jumped up. But she fell over in mid-transformation. She was tangled up in human-made ropes!

"What the heck are you doing, Thunder?" Ratchet asked, barely able to contain his laughter.

Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots, turned his head module at the sound of scrabbling feet. What he saw made him burst into fits of laughter. When he finally stopped laughing, Optimus realized this creature was a former 'Con.

Jumping up after breaking the human ropes, the cat saluted her new leader and commander."Reporting for duty, sir!"

Easing her paw down, Thunder moved towards Ratchet. There, at Ratchet's peddes, she laid down, drifting into a deep sleep.

As Thunders' breathing deepened, Optimus thought aloud. "I wonder why she is not healed yet?" 

Ratchet turned around when he heard his leader speaking. "Hmmm? Oh yes. Thunder's injuries are healing well. She just has to have some downtime, as humans call it."

"Hmmm..." was the reply.

Optimus spaced off, staring at Thunder. He silently noted the slim, lanky body of the young femme fighter. Then, something caught Prime's optics. Three jagged scratch marks over Thunder's left optic sensor. As he looked closer at it, he realized it was an old battle scar.

"Optimus, is something wrong?"

The voice startled him. And he jumped."What? Oh...no. Nothing's bothering me. I'm just having a closer look at this scar over her left optic sensor." Optimus answered Ratchet.

Bending down, Ratchet sedated Thunder to keep her asleep for awhile. Then, running a finger over the scratch marks, he opened Thunder's left optic sensor to find it foggy, blurry.

Looking up, Ratchet gave his diagnosis to Optimus. "She is blind in this eye. She may be edgy, jumpy because of this old injury."

Ratchet could see the fear in his leader's optics. And when he scanned Prime he found there was horror, fear, terror, and sorrow. "Do not be like that Optimus."

Wiping the horrified expression off his face plates, Optimus nodded his head to acknowledge what Ratchet said.

Out of the corner of both mechs' optics, they both saw Arcee, Optimus' sparkmate, their two daughters Swirl and Firestorm, and Emerald, Megatrons' sparkmate, and their three daughters Shadowdancer, Shadegun, and Darkflower, coming up to the computer platform. 

Moving away to let Emerald onto the platform, Optimus gave Arcee a hug, as well as their daughters.

Emerald climbed up the stairs towards Thunder. She bent down to run a gentle hand over Thunders' back and Emerald heard Thunder purr. It was a purr full of joy, excitement, and a feeling of safety.

"What a strange reaction." stated Emerald. "And yet, it is so comforting."

As Emerald stood up, a mortar hit the top of Autobot Base, knocking everybody down. And a shard of stone came loose, falling from the ceiling, heading straight for Optimus Prime.

As the stone came closer and closer, Optimus' optics widened.

"NO!" screamed Arcee, the fear for her love clearly shown on her face.

**Chapter 2**

BOOOOM!

The shard of falling rock exploded into miniscule pieces as a tiny, high-powered missile hit it.

As the dust cleared, everyone gasped at the figure standing before them. A proud figure with unmatched well-built, agile, and a powerfully well-muscled body stood framed against the light inside the base. The proud angle of the ears, tail, and head showed complete confidence. And the glossy steel-titanium skin shimmered in the low light.

The whirring of guns withdrawing into their casing rang around the room.

"Did that 'Con just save Optimus' life?!" yelled Arcee.

Nodding her head in answer, the cat stepped forward so everyone could see her clearly.

"I am the true Thunder. The tired and weak Thunder is gone. And Arcee here has a powerful scream. That is why I am awake now." Thunder purred sincerely.

Later that very day, Thunder's body started to droop with sleep.

Heavy footsteps jerked her awake. They sounded like a leaders' footsteps, confident footsteps. These were mech footsteps.

Onlining her optics, Thunder found herself looking straight into the optic sensors of Optimus prime.

"Hello." The purr rumbled deep in the throat of Thunder.

"Hello Thunder. How are you feeling?" questioned Optimus.

"Good." she answered. Thunder's tailtip swept across the berth on which she lay.

Suddenly reaching up, Thunder rubbed her jaw along Optimus' cheek, like a flesh-and-blood cat would do when greeting one another.

There was love in both of their eyes. But for Thunder, her love was for a father. And Optimus' love was for a daughter.

"Thank you for saving my aft back there. And, not just once, but twice now." Optimus Prime gave his thanks to her.

Offlining her optics, Thunder remembered the first time she saved her new leader.

_ Devastator was about to smash Optimus when she attacked her former comrade. She and Optimus had been out patrolling then._

_As Thunder attacked Devastator, she was shot with a laser bullet that went straight through her spark chamber, narrowly missing her spark. Then Devastator stomped on her, causing her to go into stasis for a year. For that whole year she was in a constant black world of pain, always feeling the agony of her injuries. And once more, she felt that terrible circuit-frying shock._

Shaking her head frantically, Thunder onlined her optics again to find Optimus crouched beside her bed in the Medical Bay.

Optimus put both hands around Thunders' tiny, front left paw and squeezed ever so slightly before getting up.

"Now I may not be a Medic, but I can tell you need to recharge." A ghost of a smile played on the lips of the great Leader.

"Maybe you should smile more." she purred, mischief glimmered in her eyes as she batted at him with a paw, just like a kitten would.

"Maybe I should, Thunder. Maybe I should." Optimus called over his shoulder as he left.

Turning over onto her right flank, Thunder drifted into sleep, memories flashing in her mind. And her paw, the one Optimus had held, curled toward her spark chamber as she thought of what it'd be like to have Optimus as a father.

But, unbeknownst to the orphaned, child-aged Decepticon, Arcee lurked in Ratchets' supply room. 

With tears in her eyes, she walked out of the room as she again saw the longing for a father in Thunders' eyes.

The sound of a struggling body, hitting the floor, turned Arcee right around. She dashed back to the Medical Bay to find a horrific sight.

The weak mangled body of a once strong transformer femme lay sprawled out on the floor in a heap. The fighting femme was Thunder. And Thunders' energon was pouring fast from the wounds in her neck.

:::RATCHET!:::


End file.
